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Anger Erupts Online After A Week That Savaged Sevconia

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You’ve probably noticed that the atmosphere on social media has been a little “febrile” today and over the weekend. (Copyright G. Braiden!)

There’s a good reason for that, for the outpouring of invective and abuse getting thrown about.

Last week was truly a week that savaged Sevco. One story after another pounded away at them like an overweight half-jaked Orangeman beating his drum. It was a week when the assault (and much of it self-inflicted, like Ed Norton battering himself stupid in Fight Club) just went on and on and on.

No wonder some of them are absolutely cracking up.

What amazes me is that all of them are directing that anger outward, at the bloggers who’ve written the stories. None of it is focussed internally, at the people who’ve actually brought them to the point where they’re now reeling from one crisis to another.

As I know the question is going to arise – it always does – about “why I don’t write about Celtic”, let me answer that with a yawn and the arse-scratching of someone bored stiff by it, who’s heard it all before and doubtless will again.

I do write about Celtic. Fanatically. Passionately.

But the simple truth as I’ve said over and over again is that my club is boring at times. Professionally run. Above board. Unimpeachable. Pays its taxes. Meets all its requirements for licensing and is fully accountable. Apart from my complaining over transfer policy and the overall level of ambition these past few years (and when that changes what will I have to complain about? There’s always Efe Ambrose, I suppose) that’s about it.

Theirs, on the other hand, wow. A never ending procession of men in clown feet, of laugh out loud moments, of times when all you can do is sit back and let your jaw drop in wonderment. Some have labelled them the “gift that keeps on giving” and if that’s true (and it is) then last week rolled up a lot of Christmases, birthdays and New Year’s into one.

It’s a wonder Tesco hasn’t put out an ice cream and jelly alert.

Take the story of the Help for Heroes scandal, which our friends in the press seem weirdly reluctant to write about. This was a tale of how a fan’s organisation with reach into the Ibrox boardroom was involved in a scandal involving the soldier’s charity being taken advantage of. One of their fund-raising schemes involved t-shirts bearing the Help for Heroes logo and, even more brazenly, an image of the dead Lee Rigby.

Now that’s no small thing; for contrast’s sake, imagine Celtic had been linked to something like this? My God, all the trees in the world couldn’t have coped with the demand for paper for those who’d have slapped it on page one.

And that story was only a thread connected to a much bigger one, the state of open warfare in Club 1872 itself, as its constituent parts hacked away at each other like Labour Party members at an open buffet where someone had left all the sharp knives on the table.

Stories abound of resignations, of allegations flying around, of debates being closed down by self-interested wannabes, of a loan to the club using members subs not intended for that purpose and of how those who approved it didn’t even bother seeking security for it.

Forget trying to get answers on that subject from Sevco itself. For a club preaching transparency and openness it’s astounding how much of its business is still conducted in locked rooms without windows, in total secrecy, without even Stock Market over-watch, one of the key reasons they’re not listed at the moment.

(Apart from being a financial basket case no-one would touch.)

And as if that wasn’t enough, last week saw the story break about how their stadium might be in danger of closure due to structural faults and other concerns. This confirmed stuff a lot of us have been hearing for years. Aside from an excellent blog from Johnjames, who broke the story that engineers had been called out to check the place over, there was a statement King himself made in the club’s laughably controlled fans Q&A, wherein he admitted that three out of four of the stands needs work done on the roof, potentially costing a fortune.

To this was added the superb attempt they made to spin Stewart Robertson’s decision not to run for a seat on the SPFL board.

Their official explanation about him “wanting to focus on his role at the club” made him sound an awful lot like one of those politicians who resigns to “spend more time with the family” a day or two before a tabloid reveals his penchant for Soho S&M clubs.

Of course, the fact he’d canvassed support amongst other clubs and found none wasn’t deemed important enough to comment on, but it was hardly surprising that there was a lack of it for a guy who had explained away sectarian singing as something that had been “provoked” and who implied that it was alright for his fans to invade the pitch and square up to rival supporters on the grounds that it was actually a re-enactment of the Raid on Entebbe.

It was the week when Warburton promised only to look at a new contract and found time to moan about the number of games they have to play in the League Cup. It was the one in which two key members of his squad decided not to sign insulting extensions to theirs and opted to see out their existing ones and play the Lotto instead.

And of course it’s the week where the Resolution 12 guys updated us all on their progress and, as an ancillary benefit, clarified UEFA’s position on Sevco as being a club that’s still too young to show up for its first year at primary school.

I understand why their supporters are pulling their hair out, but myself and the rest of the bloggers are the wrong people to blame for that.

We didn’t spark civil war in their supporters groups. We simply wrote about it.

It wasn’t us who decided to take advantage of a charity for soldiers.

We just commented on the sheer awfulness and hypocrisy of that act.

We’re not responsible for the club’s transfer policy.

We’re just more honest with their fans than the club itself is about what that involves.

Nor were we on top of their stadium hammering away on the roof.

Ten years of not keeping up with maintenance is the problem there, and their current chairman and his nodding dog have partial responsibility for that, as they were on the first board to take that decision.

We didn’t twist UEFA’s arm in terms of ending the oldco/newco debate once and for all.

They volunteered that information as part of their summary of other matters.

And we didn’t do anything at all to harm Stewart Robertson’s chances of getting on the SPFL board.

In the aftermath of the Scottish Cup Final, in an effort to divert attention from the behaviour of his owns fans and the sudden disappearance of the club’s manager he did a pretty damned fine job of screwing up his own chances with his comments to the media.

All of that happened last week.

Makes you wonder what fun and games we’ve got to come in this one.

This really is the show that never ends.

Cheers to Clogher Celt on CQN for inspiring this one!

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